Firefighters listen to mayor, talk with councilmen regarding chief selection

Neal Pyle, left, chairman of the Bardstown-Nelson County Volunteer Fire Department Inc., and interim Fire Chief Marlin Howard talk to reporters during a break in Monday night's meeting that brought Mayor Bill Sheckles and several councilmen to the Station 1 firehouse on North Fifth Street.

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette

Monday, March 5, 2012, 10:30 p.m. — Mayor Bill Sheckles met Monday evening with members of the Bardstown-Nelson County Fire Department to listen to firefighters’ concerns and discuss his plan to hire a single fire chief who will serve as chief of both the city-funded fire department and the incorporated volunteer department.

The media were not allowed to attend the corporation’s meeting. In addition to Sheckles, three councilmen – Joe Buckman, Fred Hagan and Francis Lydian – visited with firefighters before, during or after the meeting.

City Fire Chief Marlin Howard and Neal Pyle, chairman of the board of the Bardstown-Nelson County Volunteer Fire Department, Inc., took time to speak to the media about the evening’s meeting with the mayor and councilmen.

Howard would not talk about the mayor’s statement to firefighters. “Those are things you’ll have to talk to the mayor about,” Howard said. Calls to the mayor’s cell phone Monday night were not answered, and the voice mailbox was full.

But Howard said he was glad to see the lines of communication open with the members of the council and the mayor. Pyle added that talking with the council members “was not something we’ve been privileged to before.”

Howard’s selection as chief was part of a democratic process, Pyle said. The annual vote is held every January, and the vote for Howard was 31-12. After the vote this year, the two departments had different chiefs – Howard was chief of the corporation and Anthony Mattingly remained chief of the city-funded fire department.

After meeting with firefighters, Sheckles brought an ordinance to the city council to remove the election process from the chief selection process and have the chief selected by the mayor with the council’s approval. The changes also require the corporation chief to be the mayor’s appointed chief – if the corporation wishes to share the city-owned fire station on North Fifth Street.

“This process the city council has taken on is something we can’t control,” Howard said. “We’ve been waiting and watching just like everyone else.”

But the idea of the corporation leaving the fire station it shares with the Bardstown Fire Department seems to be the only avenue the corporation has if its members aren’t happy with the mayor’s plan.

“We’ve never wanted that,” Howard said of the department’s splitting apart. “We’ve never wanted for these two departments who have worked so flawlessly together for so long to move apart. That’s not our intent.”

But the corporation’s leadership is keeping its options open. “Our interests are the protection of the city, but we still have to look out for the best interests in the corporation,” Pyle said.

“All the firefighters are concerned, and there’s a lot of emotion right now,” he said. “They are worried about protecting their community, and they’re worried about if we leave, where would they respond … those are a lot of answers we don’t have but we have been working on them these last two weeks.”

If the fire departments were to separate, Howard said as chief he would be responsible for making sure there were no gaps in operational readiness. “We want to serve the public with the coverage they’re used to having,” he said.

The corporation has equipment it shares with the city fire department. A split would mean both fire departments would likely need to purchase additional equipment, Pyle said.

Howard said the issues the departments are facing may sound confusing to the public, and he invited the public to visit the fire station if the have questions or concerns. “We love kids and kids love big red trucks,” Howard said. “We’re always here and open to answering anyone’s concerns.”

NEXT UP. The Bardstown City Council has a special meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 6, 2012, for the council to approve the mayor’s selection of Kevin Moulton as the city’s next fire chief.

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